Potato-planter.



E. BOWKER.

POTATO PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, 1012.

1,079,1 O2. Patented Nov. 18, 1913.

M'fzzesses:

ERNEST BOVVIKEE, OF COTTAGE GROVE, V7180 tl li lilitfiltt.

GNfrl'l-l'. ASSIGNOIL 01* SITE-HALF T0 JOHN E. MELLISH, O33 COTTAGE GR'C 'VE. "WISCONSIN.

POTATO-PLANTEP..

Specification of Lotte rs Potent.

Patented ii ov. E s, t 913.

Application filed November 15. 1912. Serial No. 731.496.

To a]! whom it may concern ie it known that I, Ilnivus'r ,lhiwnnu, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Cottage Grove, county of Dane, and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Potato-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to potato planters and the object of this improvement .is to nrovide a simple and effective device of this charao tcr which will, permit of manually feeding the seed from the seed hopper to the dropping plates thereby insuring the required number of seeds to be dropped at each dropping period.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter de scribed and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a partof this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, with a part in section, of a potato planter embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

The preferred form of construction as illustrated in the drawings comprises a main frame t supported on wheels t and an axle 6. Carried on the front portion of the frame t is a seed hopper 5. The rear portion of the seed hopper 5 is provided with a plurality of movable sections 6 which are adapted to be taken out or moved so that the operator may easily reach the seed which will be contained in the hopper. On the front portion of the hopper 5 is secured a member 7 across its upper side and a seat 8 is secured thereto for the driver. On the lower front portion of the hopper 5 is a foot board 9 arranged in convenient position for the driver. A tongue 10 is provided for guiding the device and to which horses or other animals are hitched to propel the machine.

Hinged to the front portion of the frame 4: is a sub-frame 11 which is adapted to be adjusted toward and away from the main frame 4; by means of a lever 12. tiaid lever 12 is fulcrumed on a shaft 13 which extends across the main frame 4t. Opposite the lever 12 is a short lever 14; and the sub-frame 11 is pivotally connected to said levers by means of connecting links .15, one being disposed on each side of the frames as clearly illustrated by the dotted lines in Fig. 0. A catch 16 having a plurality of notches secured on the frame -'lto cooperate with a point 17 on the lever it to permit of the sub-frame ll. being held at dill'erent heights in operative position. A second catch 18 is also ourricd by a frame t and adapted to engage the lever l2 to maintain the sub-frame ll. in operative position. The inoperative position of subframe llv is shown in full lines in l igs. l and 3 and by the dotted lines in Fig. l. in its operative position.

The furrow ma hing shovel it) is carried by the sub-frame ii and adapted to open the ground to make a. place for the seed to be dropped. Two dish-shaped disks )0 are also carried by the sub-frame ll. by means of the members 21, in such positions as will cover the furrow made by the shovel 19. A telescoping chute 22 is provided between the dropping plate and the top of the shovel 19 to guide the seed to said shovel after being dropped through said dropping plate. The chute 22 is composed of sections tclescoped together and provided with tying straps 23 which maintain such sections in operative positions as clearly shown.

A casting 24: is carried by the main frame t just back of the seed hopper 5 and is provided with hearings in which are journaled shafts 25 and 52b. The shafts 25 and 26 are connected together by means of beveled gears 27 to cause siinultancous rotation. The casting lei is provided with a plate member 28 on its top portion upon which is mounted the dropping plate 29. Said drop ping plate 29 is secured on the shaft 25 to turn therewith. A perforation 30 is formed in the plate 28 in registration with the telescoping chute 22 and adapted to successively register with a plurality of perforations 31 in the dropping plate 29 upon rotation of such plate. The shaft 26 is operatively connected to the axle (5 by means of an endless chain connection 32 to be driven by the wheels t. A. scat member 325 is supported on a suitable support 5-1; to accomn'iodatc the operator for feeding the seed from the hopper 5 to the dropping plate 29.

in operation the device is propelled by horses or other suitable animals and driven by a driver from the driving seat. An operator occupies the seat member 33 and manually moves seeds from the hopper into the openings 81 in the dropping plate 29, placing one or more seeds in each perforation 31 as may be desired. The sections 6 in the back of the seed hopper are removable to facilitate taking the seed from said hopper as will be clearly understood by those familiar with this art. By means of the lever 12 the operator adjusts the furrow making shovel l9'and covering disks to desired positions to plant the potatoes at desired depths. Upon the machine moving forward the driving wheels l cause the dropping plate 29 to bring its perforations 31 in registration with the perforation in the plate 28 allowing the seed placed in the perforations in the dropping plate 29 to be passed through the chute and dropped in the furrow and covered automatically. In machines of this character which are now in use, devices are furnisl'ied for automatically feeding seed from the hopper to the dropping mechanism but since potatoes are always out in various sizes for seed such devices vary the number of seeds dropped at each time so that they are not desirable. This device is furnished to meet a demand for a machine which will drop the desired number of seeds each time.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of ariation and modification Without departfrom the spirit of the invention. I, tlnrefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claim. 7

aving described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A potato planter comprising aframe; wheels supporting said frame; a disk having a perforation therein; outwardly and downwardly extending arms formed integrally with said disk and secured to the sides of said frame; a perforated dropping plate rotatably mounted on said disk; a vertical shaft journaled in said disk and Wing said dropping plate at its upper a horizontal shaft journaled in one arm of said disk; meshing gears on said shafts operatively connecting the latter; and an operative connection between said horizontal shaft and said wheels, substantially as described.

in testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST BOWKEB.

Witnesses:

Jae. FLYNN, D. 8. Mon.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatezits,

' Washington, D. O. 

